


Creative Differences

by Winnywriter



Series: Great Falls 'Verse [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-03
Updated: 2013-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-07 08:32:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winnywriter/pseuds/Winnywriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel has writers' block. Balthazar helps, in his own way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Creative Differences

Castiel sat slouched at his desk in the back room, hands tangling in his hair as he stared blankly at his laptop screen. The cursor blinking in the top left corner of his word processor seemed to taunt him, and he glared at the empty document, trying to bring words to the surface by sheer force of will. So far, it was not going well, but it was about as successful an endeavor as had been typing anything halfway coherent.

 

He groaned and thumped his forehead onto the keyboard, and the resulting gibberish that appeared on the screen only made him more annoyed when he had to highlight and delete all of it like he had done to so many false starts.

 

Balthazar poked his head around the door frame as Castiel swiveled back and forth in his chair, wondering as he did if the movement would force enough extra blood into his brain to give his muse a jump-start. “You've been at it for how long now?” Balthazar asked. Castiel merely sighed and pushed the laptop away to fold his arms in front of him on the desk and rest his forehead on them.

 

“About an hour,” he muttered into his sleeves. Balthazar hummed contemplatively and sauntered into the room, pushing aside half-unpacked boxes with his foot and leaning over Cas' shoulder.

 

“Got quite the start,” he offered sarcastically.

 

Castiel didn't even bother to look up. “Go away,” he whined.

 

Balthazar pouted jokingly. “I thought you liked me.”

 

“I need to work...”

 

“Well what's stopping you?”

 

“Nothing... _everything._ ” He groaned again and slouched back in his chair, still staring at the empty page. “I just can't get my brain to work.”

 

“What, so you've just been sitting here staring at the page?”

 

“No...” Castiel let his arms fall limp at his sides. They swung there pathetically while he swiveled back and forth. “I've had a few false starts...Gotten a few paragraphs in before deleting it all...”

 

“Well why did you delete it? I'm sure it was brilliant.” Balthazar straightened up, crossing his arms and arching one eyebrow.

 

“It wasn't _bad,_ but it wasn't good enough.” He leaned forward and tapped on the space bar a few times, just to give his hands something to do. “I need to do something memorable, something excellent. If they're consistently impressed with my writing, I could get a regular column!”

 

“Well sitting here fretting about it isn't going to get you anywhere.” Castiel let out a long breath through his lips, blowing a glorified raspberry. He had been ecstatic when he'd been offered the opportunity to write for the local nature magazine, _Creatures Great and Small_ , and in all honesty, he'd been hoping it would come easily to him. After spending two dreadful years back home writing for a newspaper that he couldn't stand, more than anything, he wanted to find joy in writing as he once had. And his writers' block wasn't making that easy. He feared that maybe he'd never be able to enjoy his work ever again.

 

"I graduate with a degree in journalism, and this is what it gets me..." Castiel moped.

 

“You know what I think?” Balthazar said as he knelt beside him. Castiel grunted in response, only half listening. “I think you need to step away from the laptop.”

 

“I need to finish-”

 

“You _need_ to take your mind off it, Cassie. You're all stopped up, all mentally constipated.” Castiel didn't reply, but Balthazar was persistent as ever. “Come on, Cas,” he crooned, leaning in to press a lazy kiss to Castiel's jaw. “Let me distract you for a while.”

 

Castiel would have been lying if he'd said he wasn't tempted. And in fact, he knew that Balthazar was right, but he was determined to persevere, to keep at it until he had _something_ to send to the printers', and with any luck, something that would get him noticed.

 

So he pushed Balthazar away and sat up straight again, pulling his laptop toward him and beginning to type. “I need to work,” he said. “Distract me later.”

 

He was almost certain that Balthazar was rolling his eyes as he stood, but for the moment, he ignored it. “Alright, alright...” Balthazar relented as he strode out of the room. “Just promise me you won't let yourself fossilize.”

 

* * *

 

Forty-five minutes later, Castiel had a grand total of five hundred words on the page. Granted, at least they were five hundred words that he was happy with for the moment, but they were nowhere near enough. He was just pressing the heels of his hands against his closed eyes when he heard Balthazar padding up behind him again, and he didn't glance up at him until a plate was plunked down on the desk beside his laptop. On it was half an apple and some sliced cheddar cheese.

 

“You need to eat something, love,” Balthazar said, voice tinged with sincerity and mild concern. “Brain food.”

 

Castiel eyed the fruit and cheese and let out a heavy breath through his nose. He looked up at Balthazar. “Thank you,” he said.

 

Balthazar chewed his own slice of apple and gestured at the screen. “Looks like you're making progress at least.”

 

“It's something...” Castiel said.

 

“It is that. What did you decide to write about?”

 

“The spring issue is about the mating habits of animals. Mostly those that are particularly...I don't know, _cute_. Give people something to read that will make them feel good. Did you know that lobsters mate for life?”

 

“Please tell me you're not writing about shellfish,” Balthazar pleaded.

 

“I'm just doing background research. Honestly, I don't find them that interesting...”

 

“And have you found anything that _does_ interest you?”

 

“I'll let you know if I do,” Castiel said, and he took a piece of cheese and nibbled at it, more to appease Balthazar than his own stomach.

 

After hovering for a moment, Balthazar asked, “You going to kick me out again?” Castiel glanced up at him guiltily, and Balthazar popped the rest of his apple slice into his mouth, turning to go. “Okay, okay, I understand, Mr. Pulitzer. You need your room to work. You eat, though. Can't be creative on an empty stomach.”

 

“Yes, Dear,” Castiel replied facetiously. Balthazar waved at him as he disappeared around the corner.

 

* * *

 

About two hundred words later, Castiel was ready to throw in the towel. He was equal parts furious with his own stubborn brain that he couldn't manage to write one damn article, and terrified that he'd found himself, once again in a job that he was doomed to hate and that would loom over him like a storm cloud instead of being something he could enjoy.

 

He was re-reading what he already had for what had to be the hundredth time, trying to will his brain to find somewhere to go with it, when Balthazar made another appearance. “Still not going well, love?” he asked.

 

“No...” Castiel groaned. He leaned back in his chair and rolled it across the room until it thunked against the opposite wall and he could let his head fall back against the window. “I don't want to do this anymore...What did I get myself into?”

 

“Cassie, you just need to get out of this damn room for a bit, that's all.” Balthazar was leaning over him just a few strides later, and Castiel gazed up at him wanly. “You're suffocating in here. Take a break. Stop thinking about it for a little while, and it will come to you when you least expect it.”

 

Castiel let his head loll from side to side. “Maybe you're right...I do need to get my mind off of it. My brain _hurts._ ”

 

Balthazar smiled at him and took his hand, massaging his knuckles. “Then let's get you to stop thinking of this damn article, hm? We could watch a movie, go for a walk...” Castiel found himself smirking somewhat mischievously, and Balthazar paused, arching an eyebrow at him. “You have a better idea?”

 

“Yes, actually,” Castiel said. “I think I do.” Balthazar's knowing chuckle said that he understood what the gleam in Castiel's eye meant perfectly well, and before Castiel could get another word in edgewise, Balthazar was kneeling between his legs. “Here?” he asked, feeling his breath catch in his throat. “I thought you said I needed to get _out_ of this room.”

 

“Your body might be here, Cassie, but your mind certainly won't be. You know I can make sure of that.”

 

“I know you can,” Castiel tried to say, but Balthazar was already palming him through his slacks, and all was lost.

 

Balthazar unzipped him, drew him out and wrapped his insistent hand around him, pumping slowly, making Castiel groan. He felt himself floating off, the frustration dissolving from his mind like salt in warm water. His toes curled as Balthazar wrapped his lips around him and made him forget.

 

He gripped at the sides of the chair, letting his legs fall away from each other as he gave Balthazar more room to work, and Balthazar made use of every inch that Cas gave him, swirling his tongue around him and swallowing him back until there was nowhere left to go. Any trace of a thought about his writers' block fled from Castiel's mind as Balthazar's name tumbled from between his lips.

 

Balthazar's hands wandered up and down Cas' thighs, stroking him soothingly, and Castiel found himself reaching over to take one of those hands in his own, lacing their fingers together. He tensed, neck stretching back, his jaw hanging open, breathy, desperate moans escaping on every breath, louder and louder, until he tumbled over the edge with a ragged groan, fingers twisting through Balthazar's hair.

 

Castiel went limp in his seat, and Balthazar pressed another tender kiss to his flushed skin before tucking him back into his pants and leaning up to capture his lips. Castiel kissed him back sluggishly, humming against his mouth. “I think...Oh, _God_ , I needed that...” he murmured. Balthazar grinned at him.

 

“I do what I can, love,” he said. “You know I hate seeing your feathers ruffled.” Balthazar sat down on Castiel's thighs, leaning against him and pressing a languid kiss to his jaw as he dragged his fingers gently through his dark, disheveled hair.

 

They spent a few moments that way, Castiel swiveling slowly back and forth, back and forth, until he opened his eyes. “Feathers...” he echoed. Balthazar looked up at him questioningly. Castiel's eyes went wide, and he smiled. “I've got it!”

 

“Having a breakthrough, are we?” Balthazar asked, standing and watching Castiel roll up to the desk again and begin typing madly. He chuckled, going over to him and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Told you all you needed was a bit of distraction,” he said, and he patted him on the shoulder. Castiel turned, kissing him on the nose.

 

“You're my hero,” he said.

 

Balthazar preened. “I try.”

 

* * *

 

It was late that evening, and Balthazar smiled to himself as he finished reading through Castiel's rough draft. He put the pages down on the coffee table and lay back on the sofa. Castiel, curled up beside him, looked up expectantly. “What do you think?” he asked.

 

“I never knew puffins mated for life.”

 

Castiel smiled and nodded, resting his head on Balthazar's shoulder and tangling their legs together. “I didn't either. I did a lot more research than I actually used, too. Birds are pretty fascinating.” Balthazar hummed in acknowledgment and took off his reading glasses, folding them and putting them on top of the papers on the table. “Don't worry,” Castiel said. “I won't talk your ear off about it.”

 

“Oh, yes you will. But I won't mind. I can tune it out.”

 

Castiel shoved him, then smiled, kissing his neck.

 

“Couldn't have done it without you,” he said.

 

“True.”

 

“Maybe I should pay you back for your...help?”

 

Balthazar grinned and kissed him. “I like the sound of that.”


End file.
